Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3
Activision
Sony PlayStation, PlayStation2, Nintendo Gamecube, Game Boy Color
$29.99-$49.99
ESPN X Games Skateboarding
Konami/ESPN the Games
PlayStation2, Game Boy Advance
$39.99-$49.99
The third installment of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (played for review on PlayStation2) has made an already awesome game even more fun and playable, with more challenges per level and a wide array of tricks to perform on some of the most imaginative skateparks yet. Everything you see can be “ripped and destroyed,” from the huge halfpipes and cavernous bowls to the fences and billboards that line the park, the cars in the lot and scootin’ by on the street, the tree stumps and garbage cans, and on and on. Amazing graphics are another bonus, offering incredible fluidity as the landscape whips by, old newspapers flying up in your wake. A welcome addition — particularly appreciated by former skaters — is the blood that appears when you slam hard; this option can be disabled for the squeamish. The open video sequence is accentuated by the thunderous sounds of Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades,” and more superior hard rock and hip-hop to thrash to are contained within. The new version offers online gameplay so you can skate with friends or strangers from across the globe: Impress fellow skaters; find new decks; increase your ability scores by acquiring power-up icons and unlocking the new levels.
The gameplay is intuitive, with the main game-pad buttons controlling the majority of the tricks; thankfully, character control has not changed from previous versions. Ollie and grind to your heart’s content, do kick flips and varials, perform old-school lip tricks like bonelesses, rock & rolls, and disasters, as well as a wide variety of inverts. Skate one of the established Pros or create your own skater, male or female, any size or shape. Dress ’em up in any duds you want and commence to shreddin’.
ESPN X Games Skateboarding for PS2, in comparison, is quite a letdown. Gameplay is troublesome; maps are small and feel restricted. The character controls are similar to those of THPS3 but not nearly as intuitive, and the graphics do not appear to be 128-bit — an instant turn-off, since the major reason for purchasing a PS2 or similar high-end gaming console is for the quick, high-resolution graphics. X Games’ graphics are weak and slow; poor character animation and boring levels add to the frustration. The thing that separates these two games is obvious: Tony Hawk is a consultant for the game bearing his name; he has been a pro skateboarder and promoter of the sport since the mid-Eighties. ESPN? X Games? ESPN jumped on the bandwagon late, and it’s glaringly obvious.
This article appears in December 7 • 2001.